Electric contactor for loom warps



QB. KRONOFF ETAL ELECTRIC CONT-ACTOR FOR LOOM WARPS Filed July 26, 1946INVENTORS GLAREIVGERKRONOFF GEORGEM PETERSON 61M, 97M

ATTORNEY Patented May 45 1948 ELECTRIC CONTACTOR FOR LOOM WARPS ClarenceR. Kronofl, Worcester, and George N. Peterson, North Grafton, Mass,assignors to Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, Worcester, Mass., acorporation of Massachusetts Application July 26, \1926, Serial No.686,292

\ 10 Claims. i

This invention relates to improvements in electric contactor mechanismfor use more partie ularly in machines operating with warps and it isthe general object of the invention to provide such a mechanism whichwill respond to slight changes in warp tension.

In certain warp supplying mechanisms, such as the letoif of looms, ithas been proposed to use electric motors to turn the warp beam eithercontinuously r intermittently, and it is desirable under either of theseconditions that the operation of the motor be under control of the warptension. It is an important object of our'invention to provide contactmechanism so constructed as to lend itself to the ready replacement ofan empty beam by a full beam. This feature of our invention providesmounting means for the contactor so constructed that when the contactoris removed therefrom warp ends fromthe empty beam can be moved upwardlyaway from the support and warp ends of the new beam can be moveddownwardly to normal position between parts of the support.

The contactor mechanism set forth herein is designated for use with avariety of types of warp some of which will be under high tension andothers of which will be relatively slack. In order to adapt ourcontactor mechanisms to these varying conditions it is a furtherobject'of our invention to provide a warp engaging presser foot soconstructed that its pressure on the warp can be varied, depending uponthe kind of warp with which it is used.

The aforesaid presser foot will ordinarily bear downwardly on a group ofwarp threads and in order that the pressure may be uniform it is anotherobject of our invention to mount the foot for pivotal movement withrespect to its supporting lever, thereby enabling the foot to adjustitself to the sheet of warp threads which it enages.

In certain types of the letoif controlling motor mechanism alreadyalludedto provision is made for both forward and reverse running of themotor by means of a set of contacts including at least one membermovable between the other members and contactable with but one of thelatter at a time. It is desirable that the gap between the one memberand the other two be as small as possible, and to attain this result itis a further object 'of our invention, toprovide the members with springbiases and use adjusting screws to engage some of the members toovercome their normal bias for the purpose .of minimizing the aforesaidgap.

previously mentioned contactor support. These spring conductors areso'constructed that they automatically connect the contact members withexternal wires of a control circuit when the contactor unit is placed inposition on its support.

With these and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, our invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth herein.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein a convenient embodiment of ourinvention is set forth. Fig. 1 is a vertical section through a part ofthe rear end of the loom having our invention applied thereto, i Fig. 2is an enlarged plan view looking in the direction of arrow 2, Fig. 1,showing our improved contactor mechanism,

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is a transverse section on line 5-4 of Fig. 2. Referringparticularly to Fig. 1, we have shown 25 a center brace ill suchas iscustomarily used with certaintypes of looms for supporting the top orcrank shaft Ii. Center bearing I 0 is provided with a rearwardlyextending horn l2 on which is mounted a holder is for the warp stopmecha- W nism designated generally at M. This latter mechanism isgenerally present in looms but forms no part of our present invention,and is shown merely because of the relation which it sustains to theholder i3 which we use. The warp 8B beam B has a barrel IE on which iswound the warp W. The barrel has a supporting gudgeon It at each endthereof by means of which the beam is rotatably mounted in the loom. Thewarp extends upwardly from the barrel and 40 passes over a whip roll l1,also preferably rotatable on the loom as by means of gudgeons one ofwhich is shown at I8. mounted for bodily movement relatively'to theloom, or it can be held stationary except for its so rotary motion. .Ourinvention has been used principally with the latter or so-calledstationary whip rolls.

The matter thus far described is commonly employed in looms and it willbe seen from Fig. 1

so that the warp leads upwardly from the beam B,

over the whip roll I1 and then forwardly or to the left through the warpstop motion and to the weaving instrumentalities not shown herein.

'In carrying our present invention into effect 66 we provide a verticalsupport the lower end of The whip roll may be which is provided withvertical slots 28 receiving bolts 21 which are secured to a'rearwardexten-' sion oi the holder I3. By this construction thesupport 26 can beheld stationary in vertically adjusted position. The upper part of thesupport is provided with a flat horizontal table 36 to which are securedfront and back transverse warp positioning bars -3I 32, respectively.These bars may be held to. the-table 36,, in any approved manner, as byscrews 33, and the table may be held to the support 36 by means ofscrews 36, see Fig. 3.

The contact mechanism or unit designated generally at 35 comprises acasing or housing 36 made oi insulating material. preferably atransparent plastic, and has located within it the aforesaid contactmembers and lever mechanism for controlling at least one of the contactmembers. The casing 36 is supported by right and left i gaging sidemember 36. Bolt 6| passes through theupper part or the casing 36 asshown in Fig. 3, and the casing is provided with slots 45 which receivethe side members. The slots and bolt H cooperate to hold the casing 36in fixed normal position when the screw 46 is tightened to the positionindicated in Figs. 2 and 4.

Mounted for rocking movement in the easing 36 is a small shaft 61 theends of which extend beyond the casing and have pinned there- I to thetwosides 43 and 66 of a yoke arm 56 which when moved vertically causesrocking of shaft 41. The forward end of yoke arm 66 has a bearing 52slotted as at 63 to receive an upwardly extending web 66 formed on atension or presser foot 65. A pin 66 pivotally connects the web 56 tothe bearing 62 sothat the presser foot is rockabie and lower springelectric contacts 64 and 65, re-

spectively. The upper and lower contacts are out of the range of actionof the finger 62 and the latter can engage the intermediate contactonly.

These contacts extend forwardly and are held out of electric contactwith each other by an insulating mounting 61 secured to the upper partof casing 36 by means or screws 66.

An adjusting screw 16 is threaded into the upper part of casing 36 forengagement with the upper contact, and in similar manner an adjustingscrew II is provided for the lower contact 65. Upper contact 66 normallyhas a spring bias which tends to move it away from the intermediatecontact 63 and the adjusting screw 16 counteracts this bias and is themeans by which contact 64 can be adjusted toward the intermediatecontact. The lower contact is also biased upwardly so that it normallytends to I remain in constant engagement with the intermediate contact.63, and thesecond adjusting screw 1| permits downward adjustment of thelower contact member 66 away from the interbetween the upper ends ofside arms 31 and 361s a bolt ll having a head 62 engaging side member 31and a holding screw 43 enmediate contact. These two adjusting screwstherefore cooperate with the normal biases oi the upper and lower springcontacts to regulate the air gap between themand the intermediate 7contact member.

A pressure arm 16 is secured to shaft 41 and is located within thecasing 36. It engages a plunger 16 mounted for horizontal sliding motionin thecasing 36 and urged forwardly by a compresslon spring 11 locatedwithin a bore 16 running longitudinally of the casing 66. An adjust-.ing screw 16 for.- the spring engages the rear end of the latter and isthreaded into a sleeve 66 which in turn is threaded into the casing 36.The sleeve and'screw 16 are both metallic and adiustments of the forceexerted by the spring can be effected without causing wearing of anypart of casing 36. A knurled nut 6I integral with .sleeve 66 permitsremoval or the latter, or holdins of it when screw 16 is adjusted.

The casing 36fhas a .wall 66 through which extends a contact button 66connected by wire 61 to the intermediate spring contact 63. Button .66engages a spring electric conductor 66 located in a vertical slot 66 inthe inner side of the right side arm 31, see Fig. 4. The conductor 66 isnormally housed within its side arm and is insulated therefrom by sheetsof insulating material 66. In similar manner the other side arm '36 isslottedas at 66 and has located in it right and left spring conductors66 and 61, see Fig. 4. These contacts are insulated from each other andalso from the side arm 36, as at 96. Spring contact 66 engages a button66 extending through the left side wall I66 or the casing 36, whilespring contact 61 engages a second button I6I also extending throughwall I66. Wires I62 and I63 connect the top and bottom buttons IM and 66with the bottom and top spring contacts 65 and 66, respectively. Thecontact springs 66 and 61 are normaliylocated within the slot 35 in thesame manner as contact 66 is 'normally confined within its slot 66.Conductors", 66 and 61 are connected at their lower ends to wires I66,I66

and I61, respectively, forming part of a control circuit'not shown.

The table 36 and side arms 31 and 36 are permanently fixed to the loom.When a warp is to be placed inthe loom bolt 6| is removed and the unit35 is lifted upwardly away from the side arms as indicated in dottedlines in Fig. 3. The warp is then placed over the whip roll and moveddownwardly so that a small group of warp threads, indicated at W in Fig.4, lie between the side arms 31 and 36. These warps W will be locatedbelow the casing 36 when the latter is in normal position and'willextend over the tops of the cross bars 31 and 32. The unit 35 is theninserted downwardly between the side arms,

thereby establishing electric engagement between the conductors 66, 66and 91 and their respective buttons. The'bolt ll is then placed inposition and the nut 43 tightened. When thus assembled the warp threadsbetween the side arms 31 and 36 extend under the-presser foot 55. Thelatter, as is apparent from Fig. 2, is wider than the space between theside arms .so that some of the warp threads not between the side armswill engage the end portions of the presser foot.

The spring 11 will then exert a down force on the presser foot 55, andwhen the war is comparatively slack this foot will descend and therewill be a corresponding upward movement of lever arm 6| which enablesthe intermediate the warp tension increases and the foot as will beraised, thereby lowering arm Bi and causing finger B2 to press theintermediate spring contact down against the lower contact 65, Adjustingscrew 19 can be altered to vary the downward force of foot 65 dependingupon the type of warp being used. A bottom plate I08 closes the lowerpart of recess or cavity 60 and protects the contacts 83, 64 and 85 fromlint.

The presser foot 55 is shown herein as having a length greater than thedistance between the side arms 31 and 38, but'this is not an essentialrelationship. When it does exist the warp threads at the sides of thesmall group W' may lie entirely under the ends of the presser foot, orsome of these threads may be over the presser foot. It will beunderstood that the total upward force exerted by the warp on thepresser foot will depend upon the number of threads under it, and byvarying this number of threads the force opposing spring ll can bealtered. The ultimate force acting to depress finger $2 is therefore notnecessarily limited or determined only by the setting of spring ll. Thepresser foot is provided with flanges H0 so that after a given number ofthreads are in engagement with the presser foot they will remain inengagement with it. These flange H0 are desirable in view of the factthat as warp threads unwind from the warp beam they do not always lie inexactly parallel rela-' tionship.

From the foregoing it will be seen that we have provided a form ofelectric contact for use in machines operating with warp threads whereinthe presser foot is pivotally mounted so as to equalize the upwardforces of the warp threads as they tend to rock lever L. It will also beseen that the presser foot is somewhat wider than the group of warpthreads W. and it is because of this fact that it is possible to varythe forces acting on the presser foot independently of the spring ll.After a given relation between warp threads and the presser foot hasbeen established, however, it is possible to alter the counter-forceexerted by the spring 11 against the warp by means or adjusting screw19. The adjusting screws 10 and 'Il afiord means for adjusting the upperand lower contacts 64 and 8B relatively to the intermediate contact 63.It will further be seen that by means of the bolt ii it is possible toremove the contact unit 85 without disturbing the remainder of themechanism when a depleted warp beam is being replaced by a full beam,and that when the unit 35 is replaced to the position indicated in Fig.4 the conductors extending along the side plates 31 and 38 automaticallyreestablish electric contact with their respective contact buttons.

Having thus described our invention it will be seen that changes andmodifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention and we do not wishto be limited to the details herein disclosed, but what we claim is:

1. In electric contactor mechanism for a machine operating with a warp,a structure fixed on the machine, an electric contact supported by thestructure, a lever pivoted on the structure for movement into engagementwith the electric contact, and a presser foot extending transversely ofthe warp and pivoted to the lever in'such manner as to adjust itself tounequal forces exerted by the warp thread. 1

and lever so constructed as to enable said foot to respond to unequaltensions in the warp threads engaged thereby.

3. In electric contactor mechanism for a machineoperating with a warp, astructure fixed to the machine having spaced side members between whicha group of warp'threads pass, an electric contact on the structure, alever pivoted on the structure for movement into engagement with theelectric contact, and a presser foot on the lever extending transverselyof the warp and extending beyond each side of said group of warp threadsand being over all of the threads in said group and engaging certain ofthe other warp threads at the sides of said group.

4. In electric contactor mechanism for a ma chine operating with a warp,a structure fixed to the machine, an electric contact thereon, alethread, a spring supported by the structure and operatively related tothe lever and tending to move said presser foot toward the warp threads.

and means carried by the structure to vary the force exerted by saidspring on the lever.

5. In electric contactor mechanism for a machine operating with a warp,a structure fixed on said machine, an electric contact on saidstructure, a shaft rockably mounted on the structure, a lever secured tosaid shaft and having an arm for movement into engagement with thecontact and having another arm for engagement with the warp, a pressurearm secured to said'shaft, a spring supported by the structure exertinga force on said presser armttending to move said other arm of the levertoward the warp and said one arm away from said contact, and means sup--ported by the structure to vary the force exerted by said spring on saidpresser arm.

6. In electric contactor mechanism for a machine operating with a warp,a structure fixed to the machine, upper and lower spaced electriccontacts mounted on the structure, an intermediate contact on thestructure between said upper and lower contacts, means on said structurefor moving the intermediate contact with respect to said upper and lowercontacts, the upper contact being normally biased to move away from theintermediate contactand the lower contact beingmormally biased to movetoward the intermediate contact, an adjusting screw on said structureengaging the upper contact and effective to move the latter toward theintermediate contact, and a second'adjusting screw on said structure forthe lower contact to move the latter away from the intermediate contact.

7. In electric contactor mechanism for a machine operating with a warp,fixed structure including spaced side members between which certain ofthe warp threads normally extend, a contact unit having a lever forengagement with the warp threads, electric contact mean supported by thestructure controlled by said lever, and

means for detachably supporting said unit on posit-ion by'saiddetachable means.

8. In electric contactor mechanism for a machine operating with a warp,fixed support means including side members spaced from each otherlaterally of the length of the warp threads and between which a group ofwarp threads normally extend, an electric contact unit having a presserfoot to engage the top of said group or warp threads, and detachablemeans normally securing said unit to said side members with said groupunder said unit and said presser foot, said unit being removableupwardly away from said side members when said detachable means isremoved to permit movement of said group'ot threads upwardly frombetween said isde members and permit insertion of another group of warpthreads downwardly between said side members, after which said unit isreturnable tov the normal position thereof to be held by said detachablemeans over said other groupoi warp threads. j

9. In electric contactor mechanismffor a machine operating with a warp,-a pair vertical side members spacedirom each other laterally oi thedirection in which the warp threads extend, electric conductor meanssupported by said side members, an electric contact unit having contactbutton means ior engagement with said conductor means. and detachablemeans for bolding said unit in normal position on said side members,said unit being removable from between said side members when saiddetaching means is removed and the button means being slldable away fromthe conductor means to permit removal of the warp threads between saidmembers, and said unitsubsequent to placement oi another group 0! warpthreads between said side members being returnable to normal positionand said button means sliding into electric engagement with saidconductor means.

10. In electric contactor mechanism for a machine operating with a warp,vertical side members spaced laterally relatively to the length of thewarp threads, an electric conductor on one of said side members, anelectric contact unit. detachable means normally holding said unit inposition between said side members and havin a contact button normallyin engagement with said conductor, said unit upon removal 01' saiddetaching means being movable upwardly to move the button away from saidconductor preparatory to removal or the warp threads between said sidemembers, and subsequent replacement of said unit between said sidemembers causing said contact button to reestablish electric engagementwith said conductor.

CLARENCE R. KRONOFF. GEORGE N. PE'I'ERSON.

